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Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Dear Mr President

Note: You guys know that I don't really blog about the problems in our country (there are many, like other countries) or about political things but here's one thing I feel very strongly about and I think I need to say this out loud, I have been thinking about this for far too long.

Dear Mr President,

I like you, I do. As a person I think you are a a good-natured person and I respect you a lot because I was brought up to respect elders, especially the people who are leading the country. Your brother is again someone I dearly respect and love. I remember writing letters to him on his every birthday when I was young and it would make my day to get that thank you letter back from the presidents office. My childhood was rather happy and I also did not know about any of the problems or anything because children are children and they are innocent.

I can't even understand how much pressure you get from people far and near. Being the president must be hard. You are always trying to do the right thing but everything you do, you get picked on. You have always lived a public life and I can't imagine how it must have been. Let's not dwell on that. I just want you to know that I appreciate every good thing you do for this country.

Moving on, I met moyameehaa for the first time on twitter a couple years ago when the Maldivian twitter scene was first starting. Though I don't know him enough to call him a friend, we have been aquaintances through some twitter meet ups and others. His love for the Dhivehi language has always been an inspiration for me. I have known him to be a good hearted, kind soul who always tries to make people happy, by sharing jokes and just being himself. The last time I met him in person was this February during the Shinzou Con where he and Juxyn commented on my TARDIS outfit and we shared a joke or two. When I heard he was missing, I didn't actually realize what it meant. I mean, we see kidnappings and things in movies and in real life, it just don't add up. Somehow I always think that the police would find them before the episode ends, like in an episode of Criminal Minds but this episode is too long. It has been more than two weeks and this is a very small country.

Mr President, you hold on your shoulders, the responsibility of the population of Maldives and that is far too big for one person but alas you knew that when you applied for the post, you knew that when the majority of this country voted for you, you have known that growing up with your brother who carried that responsibility for thirty years. When there are so many problems going around, this missing human being might seem small but dear president, I have been taught that no person's problem is too small or too insignificant. The Doctor, in his many years of travel has not met a person who was not important. You, Moyameehaa and I, we are all the same. We are human, we are Muslims and we deserve everything this world has to offer to us. Please do everything in your power to help him, to return a son to his mother, an uncle to his nephews and nieces, a friend to his friends and a citizen to this country. I hope, I dearly hope that police is trying very hard, looking through every nook and cranny to give us some good news. We have not lost hope, at least I haven't. I'm still that same girl who writes letters on your birthdays and the same girl who believes that at the end of this episode, Rilwan will be found and all would be right with the world. It's not an easy thing being a dreamer when the rest of the country is so cynical and fighting with their brothers and sisters.

All I ask my dear president is to not let the people of this country down. Be the president this country deserves, be the kind of hero that the little children would happily write letters to, be the man those little boys will be inspired to grow up to be. If all fails, know that there is still one girl who trusted you, who believed in you when the rest of the world doubted you, who will stand by you through thick and thin not because you are the president, but because you are a human being and your deserve to have a cheerleader and I will always try to be that girl.

May Allah bless us with the truth and guide us in our journey to find Rilwan and also in everything we do to make this country better for the coming generations.

I wish you all the best. I know that your initial reaction will be to ignore and delete this comment. I know that you would want to shield yourself from anything that is disturbing to you and be lost in the world you created. Maybe it is the way you were raised. The good girl who likes to get As in school, hangs out with perfect fun friends. Or may be that’s what you want to show the world.

I really wish you all the best. I don’t know how to tell you this, but part of the reason Rilwan is lost is because of people like you. Please read about what the Gayyooms have done to Maldivians. This may sound like I’m from MDP or some shit like that. You are probably trained to ignore any tone of politics in anything. Just like you ignored any sexual connotation in things you watched or read during your childhood, but you probably don’t now, or you have developed psychological side-effects from the repression.

But you have to know that being away from political news does not make you innocent. Politicians design the system so that a group like you can hate ‘politics’ and ignore all the atrocities done. If you ignore it, it will come back to you in one form or another. Today it’s Rizwan. Tomorrow your future husband, or your son, or father.

I wish you all the best and hope that you will one day read what’s happening locally and not only read Ppaulo Coelho only. That will help when you teach too. Please don’t destroy the future generations by teaching, we want more aware kids to come out of schools and universities in this country.

I wish you would not write letters to people you don’t know or who don’t care about you, be it a Saint or Satan. I wish you would open your mind to criticism from people like me and instead of deleting this I wish that you would let your self grow and be brave enough to be self critical and think for yourself. Reveal yourself & be free. Oh that sounds like something from a fiction novel you read. But that can be real too.

And I wish for the safe return of your twitter friend, although i don’t know him, he seems special to you and Gayyoom will not do anything even if you send him a paper ream full of letters everyday day. He doesn’t care about people. Just like Paulo would say: A man who can’t smile will not care. I wish you all the best.

First of all, thank you very much for taking the time to write this and I appreciate the comment very much.

You want Rilwan back and so do I. As long as we remain in agreement on this, we are on the same side. The specifics of our views could be debated on indefinitely but I urge you to focus on what we have in common and hope for his safe return instead.

About all the other things you assumed about me, all of them are not completely true. I'm not blindly following one human being and respecting someone does not mean that. Also I have yet to read any Paulo Coehlo novels but have been hearing good things about them so perhaps I will read them soon.

Thank you for the constructive criticism and I hope you have a wonderful day and a good life.

Hello.. Its a nice letter but i think the president made it clear what riwan means to him when he said no comment and say that authorities must be on it probably.. Thats the sour truth .. He is too busy about citizens and too busy worrying about himself

Oh Shaha dear, you've reduced me to tears. Thank you for this beautiful piece of writing.

I am not a friend of Rilwan either, but I am sure of one thing. I miss him. I cannot even imagine what his family and friends must be going through. The few times I interacted with him, he was friendly, funny and just plain awesome. The many times I have read his articles, blog posts and tweets, he was inspirational, brilliant, and passionate about human rights.